Did you know it is not something new?

As a child, we had our ear to the radio all of the time. It was our big source of news and entertainment and one used to be in the kitchen on all day.

At night we would have some great shows that made us use our imagination like "THE SHADOW" and a slew of others. But we always waited each week for an amateur show called "THE MAJOR BOWLES HOUR" He was a big Heavy set man (later on Black and White TV ) and had a large round metal disk by his side. If he did not like the act, he would hit it and "BONG" that person was out!

My late husband was five years older than I and not in our "crowd" so when I heard a young fellow play the harmonica, it was nice and he was not "bonged". If memory serves, there used to be a winner and second and third place. I really do not know what they got as a prize, it may have been a few dollars. My husband tells me he came in second on that night. GEE ANOTHER RUNNER-UP!

Then Major Bowles went on TV and when he could no longer continue due to advance age, someone else was in charge. The contestants were varied and I do not know if there were any dancers. There WAS an audience however.

As my readers know, I have a pretty good memory, and I do not remember the ones who won and later became famous, but there WERE many.

Later on there were variety shows like THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW that helped young entertainers of ALL kinds show their talent. I loved the little mouse who used to kiss Mr. Sullivan on the nose.

Ed McMann had a great talent show and again, many became famous later on. Now we started to have the audience vote (one vote! what a concept!)

Last night my heart was beating like thunder hoping that Barbara Padea would be the winner of AMERICA HAS TALENT. Nope - SECOND PLACE. We were thrilled by the singing of another SECOND PLACE winner: Susan Boyle. Come to think about it, never ever did know what happened to that English dance group that came in FIRST.

Well, we are ALL aware of OUR SECOND PLACE WINNER who is FIRST in our hearts and people all over the world.

Isn't it amazing that Simon Cowell has America Got Talent as one of his enterprises and the rules are only TEN VOTES PER PERSON. Still too many, but a Heck of a lot better than the rules of "HIS" Show: AMERICAN IDOL! Now we all know he definitely has power with the producers there. THAT system is plain DUMB!

Even Dancing with the Stars another HIT with America has a limited amount of votes.

I just wanted to share a few of the Talent shows that I know about and NOTHING IS NEW. It dates back as far as maybe 1935's with MAJOR BOWLES!

AMERICA GOT TALENT may not have a "gong" but they have three loud "X"S THAT does the same thing as Major Bowles' gong! So nothing is new, is it?

Just a personal note: I have been sitting in a desperate state since I could not get into what I call "my home away from home" for almost ten days and I was a wreck. Many friends tried to come to my aid via emails to me and to those who run this site. EVERYONE HAVE BEEN SUPPORTIVE AND ENCOURAGING AS WELL AS LOVING including the ones "backstage" who run this Grand Place. I forwarded all responses to my son and in five minutes he gave me a special Browser which I now call "The Place I find Clay". Ever since I wrote my very first blog two years ago, this had been a major part of my life. My friends list is long and grand and I LOVE EVERY ONE OF YOU!

THANK YOU does not seem adequate, but it is all I can say right now. I am so happy to be back.

Love you all, Marian